‘Sacred Spaces at MOBIA, Part II’

     

Dr. Klaus Ottmann and artist Tobi Kahn at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City Thursday night. Ottmann lectured on ‘Faith, Spirituality and Sacred Spaces in Contemporary Art,’ the last of three lectures offered in connection with MOBIA’s exhibit of Kahn’s work ‘Sacred Spaces for the 21st Century’ which closes on Sunday.

‘Portrait of the Artist Studio
as Spiritual Space’

Thursday night, the Museum of Biblical Art hosted the final of three lectures addressing the topic of sacred spaces in conjunction with its exhibit of artist Tobi Kahn’s work titled “Sacred Spaces for the 21st Century.” Our teacher, Dr. Klaus Ottmann, brought the lecture series full circle; what began last month with a discussion of the evolution of sacred spaces from Temple-era Israel through the Renaissance and into modern times, concluded here with Ottmann defining the artist studio as spiritual space where philosophy, language, and religion are amalgamated in certain works of contemporary art.

Not the Magpie Mason’s field of expertise, which made the experience all the more fascinating. Furthermore, if my colleagues at the Rose Circle happen to read this, I hope they will jot down Dr. Ottmann’s name, and consider inviting him to speak at one of our conferences, where he can contribute much to the members’ stock of knowledge as he is a sound choice to discuss these matters.

Ottmann earned a Master of Arts degree in 1980 from Freie Universität in Berlin, and his Doctorate in Philosophy from the Division of Media and Communications at the European Graduate School in Switzerland in 2002. Today Ottmann serves as the Robert Lehman Curator for Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York and also teaches art history at the School of Visual Arts. A prolific author of books and catalogs, Ottmann also is editor-in-chief of Spring Publications, Inc., which publishes books on psychology, philosophy, religion, mythology, and art. One of its books is Ottmann’s translation (from German) of Gershom Scholem’s Alchemy and Kabbalah (2006).

He has curated more than 40 exhibitions including Life, Love, and Death: The Works of James Lee Byars at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg (2004), and Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective, which traveled from Washington to five other museums around the world (2000-02). His recent curatorial projects include exhibits of Willem De Kooning and Chloe Piene; future shows of Rackstraw Downes and Jennifer Bartlett will open at Parrish Art Museum this year and next.

His curriculum vitae is extensive, and can be read here.

Ottman spoke too briefly yet managed to cover a variety of artists, the philosophers who inspired them, and the spiritual images created thereby. In only about 40 minutes, Ottman, taught us about more than half a dozen artists of the 20th century, and even one painter from 15th century Russia.


Ottmann began his talk quoting Immanuel Kant’s three fundamental philosophical questions:

What can I know?

What ought I to do?

What may I hope for?

His point was to explain that man seeks an ethical grounding in life. There are those who rely on meditation and prayer; others take to political activism; some look for fulfillment in material possessions. Their quest is for the inexpressible, what Ludwig Wittgenstein described as “running against the boundaries of language.” Or, as F.W.J. Schelling put it (Ottmann again quoting): “Each of us is compelled by nature to seek an Absolute.” (Ottmann also is the translator of Schelling’s soon-to-be published Philosophy and Religion.) This can lead to a harmonious, but deep, connection between religion and art. To wit: Chartres Cathedral, an almost limitless creation of material wonder (architecture, statuary, stained glass, etc.) that has become a destination for spiritual seekers of all kinds.

With these firm philosophical and artistic footings, Dr. Ottmann lead us forward into the fine arts, screening for us a few minutes of the film Andrey Rublyov (1966) by Andrei Tarkovsky, which tells the story of Rublyov’s torment over being hired to paint The Last Judgment inside a church, yet he cannot paint it, not wanting to “terrify people.” This 15th century painter of Orthodox icons is renowned for his Holy Trinity, which Ottmann credits as an example of art’s ability to link the present world to another world. “There exists an icon of the Holy Trinity, and therefore God exists as well.”

Fast-forwarding to 1950, Ottmann gave us Mark Rothko’s No. 10, an oil on canvas of his floating rectangles.

Left: Rublyov’s Holy Trinity (c.1410).

Right: Rothko’s No. 10 (1950).

Rothko’s favorite philosopher was Søren Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish thinker who believed Christianity was better left to the individual believer who, if left free to worship, would seek the community of a congregation. (Such thinking put him at odds with the Danish National Church, the official state church.) His preference for the individual also is seen in writings about the patriarch Abraham. “Kierkegaard has that passion for the ‘I.’ For that ‘I’ experience, like Abraham in his Fear and Trembling,” said Ottmann, quoting Rothko. “It is the ‘I’ that I myself experience every day.”

No. 10 shows a few horizontal bars, but The Rothko Chapel in Houston is a modern work of specifically religious art. Perhaps most notably, this sacred space was not built to be a synagogue or church, but was commissioned by private individuals. “The Chapel has two vocations: contemplation and action. It is a place alive with religious ceremonies of all faiths, and where the experience and understanding of all traditions are encouraged and made available. Action takes the form of supporting human rights, and thus the Chapel has become a rallying place for all people concerned with peace, freedom, and social justice throughout the world.” Read more here.

Our next stop was New Mexico to visit the Dwan Light Sanctuary on the campus of the United World College. Curator Virginia Dwan, architect Laban Wingert, and artist Charles Ross collaborated to create an exceptionally unique sacred space. As one website puts it, the Sanctuary is:

“a space shaped by the Earth’s alignment to the sun, moon, and stars. Designed around the number twelve, the Sanctuary is illuminated by six prisms in each of two apses, and three prisms in each of four skylights. The prisms form broad ribbons of pure solar color that move in concert with the rotation of the Earth. Lunar spectrums can be seen on nights when the moon is full. A third apse, facing north, houses a square window. A line parallel to Earth’s axis extends from the center of the floor through the center of this window, and points directly to the North Star.”

Moving to France, we examined Yves Klein’s Blue Monochromes, which I think Dr. Ottmann said were six in number, and had been created for a chapel that in the end was not built. As MoMA’s website says:

“Monochrome abstraction—the use of one color over an entire canvas—has been a strategy adopted by many painters wishing to challenge expectations of what an image can and should represent. Klein likened monochrome painting to an ‘open window to freedom.’ He worked with a chemist to develop his own particular brand of blue. Made from pure color pigment and a binding medium, it is called International Klein Blue. Klein adopted this hue as a means of evoking the immateriality and boundlessness of his own particular utopian vision of the world.”

Then it was time for more film. Klein’s Anthropometries of the Blue Period (1962) combines music, blue paint, and nudes to create what Ottmann called “a theater of the flesh.” Referring to Klein several times as a Christian and Rosicrucian, our lecturer described the action in the film as an expression of the incarnation of The Word, and the resurrection of the body. The Word made flesh. I cannot find the same piece of film on the web, but this alternative gives you the idea. This clip is shorter than what we saw during the lecture, and what is most obviously different is the absence of the original music. Klein had his female models, the “human brushes,” do their work while a chamber orchestra with two vocalists performs a droning piece of music which sounded almost like a liturgical chanting, but with strings and woodwinds undertaking the work of a choir of baritones. Frankly, it gave the scene a nightmarish quality. (Also, the longer film we saw during the lecture offered a few quick glimpses at a jewel around Klein’s neck. Its red ribbon was plainly visible against his white tuxedo shirt, but the jewel itself seemed to escape the camera; to me it appeared to have had the shape of what we American Freemasons call a Most Wise Master’s jewel.)

Klein and Claude Parent collaborated on “Air Architecture” and their “Air Conditioned City” (1961). Rosicrucian symbolism abounds, as the elements Air and Fire again dominate Klein’s statement, his call for a new Eden.

Leaving Europe for India, our group looked at Wolfgang Laib and his Brahmanda (1972). Read Dr. Ottmann’s explanation here from last November.

For his Brahmanda, said Ottmann, Laib had discovered a large black rock, about three feet long, in India. He brought the rock home and carved it into a perfect oval shape called a “brahmanda.”  A Sanskrit word, “brahmanda” is defined as “cosmic spirit” + egg. “The embodiment of Brahma, particularly the solar system, physical, psychological, and spiritual; the ancient Hindus called Brahma “the cosmic atom. The idea is that this cosmic atom is ‘Brahma’s Egg,’ from which the universe shall spring into manifested being.”

Laib also is known for his “Fire Rituals.” Ottmann said Laib’s exhibition in Turin consisted of Vedic fire rituals, which included priests’ religious chants and the lighting of 33 fire altars on which ritual elements of fruits and vegetables, and other organic materials were burned. A very rare happening outside of India. These are celebrations of peace, prosperity, health, love, and other ethics and energies.

The Faith by Enrique Celaya, oil and wax on canvas, 2007.

Enrique Martinez Celaya, (born 1964) a Cuban-American artist, wants, said Ottmann, for “artists to be prophets again.” Marrying art, literature, philosophy, and science, this artist calls for art to show “ethical responsibility” with the artist/prophet, unlike the mystic who aims to leave this world for the next, returning to the world to spread his message.

The Magpie Mason could not help but smile when Dr. Ottmann projected the next painting onto the screen. Celaya’s Two Worlds (2007) unmistakably recalls the countless myths, legends, and religious stories that allegorically employ a river as, what Piers Vaughan might term, “a barrier between two states of consciousness.”

Two Worlds by Enrique Celaya, oil and wax on canvas, 2007.

The traveler, dressed unusually, crosses the water, heading toward Light, where life begins to bloom. Only one step away from completing his crossing, he appears to struggle to maintain his balance. It is “a spiritual and transcendent reminder of the ethical responsibility of the artist,” Ottmann explained which, for me, is an inspiring contrast to the hateful filth (e.g., Serrano, Ofili) that seems to garner the art world’s awards and grant monies.

Concluding his lecture, Dr. Ottmann urged us to consider the artist’s studio as spiritual space. Artists’ spaces are sometimes preserved, he said, not only for their historical significance, but for the idea of preserving the spirit of the artist. “There is so much concentration…. There is an aura.”

Magpie readers, please always remember that subjects such as this are complicated, consequently any errors above are attributable to me, and not to Dr. Ottmann.
     

Just ‘beaux’ with me

     
In January, the Beaux Arts Alliance will sponsor four illustrated lectures on the history, architecture and arts of Western Europe, and it is the first of the presentations that I bring to Masons’ attention.

Titled “French Cathedrals: Faith and Glory: Paris, Chartres and Rheims,” the Jan. 5 program undoubtedly will showcase the stunning stonework of these cities’ medieval cathedrals. David Garrard Lowe, the noted author on the history of architecture, will be our tour guide.

This will take place in the Undercroft of the Church of the Resurrection, a landmark itself, located at 115 East 74th Street in New York City.

(This is a second chance for those of us who missed his presentation on this subject last April at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

Reservations are required. Phone: (212) 639-9120. Admission costs $30 per lecture.
     

Rose Circle, Part III

From left: Master of Ceremonies Rob Morton, R.A. Gilbert, Piers Vaughan and David Lindez.


The trilogy of presentations given Saturday would be possible only at an event hosted by the Rose Circle Research Foundation. Three Rosicrucian scholars, all with international reputations, gathered at one podium to impart three unique perspectives of their common subject.

I'll say at the outset that I am restraining myself from quoting too extensively from these three presentations because the papers will be available to Rose Circle members via the Foundation's website. If you are reading this blog with any specific curiosity, you would benefit from Rose Circle membership.

Piers A. Vaughan spoke brilliantly on Alchemy in relation to the three degrees of Craft Masonry. There probably is not a way to collate all the information pertaining to Piers' work in Freemasonry and other initiatic societies. Here is how one Scottish Rite publication put it:

Bro. Piers Vaughan was initiated in Southwick Lodge No.7058 in England in 1979, and when he moved to the USA he affiliated with St. John’s Lodge No 1 in New York City, where he was Master in 1998. AGL of the First Manhattan District , High Priest of the Ancient Chapter No.1 RAM, Illustrious Master of Columbian Council No.1 Cryptic Masons, and Commander of Morton Commandery No. 4 KT, are just some of the Masonic functions that this Worthy Brother was or still is active in. As a Past Most Wise Master and a Ritual Director of the Chapter of Rose Croix, he greatly improved the standard of proficiency in this Body’s Ritual work and through his extensive knowledge of the Craft, and especially of the Rose Croix Degrees, has increased the understanding of the Rituals, Symbols and Tenets in the Chapters and in the Valley.

With wonderful illustrations projected by PowerPoint, Piers led a tour of sacred sites around the world, from Chartres to the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, with pointed sightseeing of Green Man examples and other depictions of esoteric thought rendered in stone for the understanding of illiterate generations of long ago.

Part of his point is to demonstrate how alchemical images were built into medieval churches, on their walls, their arched entrances, stained glass windows and elsewhere. More than Western sacred spaces, Piers' visit to the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Hong Kong produced a photo of a statue of the newborn Buddha with one hand raised, pointing up, and the other hand lowered, pointing down, as if to say "As above, so below." (The word "gobsmacked" comes to mind, and that's not even a word I'd ever use.) He describes the symbolism chiseled into the multiple arches of the entrance of Notre Dame as "an initiation in itself."

Using additional graphics, Piers reveals direct relationships between alchemical elements and Masonic ritual.

Defining the "puffers" of material alchemy (that is, those who endeavor to transmute metals, like lead into gold) as akin to operative masons transforming raw stone into beautiful structures or adornments, Piers explained that the Master Mason Degree's message of spiritual renewal contains too much alchemical information to be ignored, and he furthermore linked both, thematically, to esoteric Christianity in that all three schools of thought lead to the unification of heaven and earth.

Look to the Gospel of St. Thomas, he reminded us: "Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there." (77:2-3)

Other Alchemical-Masonic parallels were identified. To touch on a few:

The Chamber of Reflection awaiting aspirants in traditional Scottish Rite Masonry and other Masonic rites is likened to Alchemy's Calcination phase, the first of seven (boy, does that number come up frequently!) major stages of alchemical transformation. This involves the use of heat – "a gentle heat, not a roaring fire" – to reduce substance to ashes. In psychology, we'd call this a humbling process that deconstructs the ego, liberates the mind from concerns for material wealth, and grants time for introspection.

The Trivium (Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric) and Quadrivium (Geometry, Astronomy, Arithmetic and Music) of the Middle Chamber Lecture parallels Alchemy's act of Conjunction, which is a period of examining higher concepts in steps toward achieving a community with deity.


Of the Middle Chamber Lecture's borrowing of Judges' tale of Jephthah, Piers describes it as the "most transparent" of Alchemical symbols in the Masonic body of degrees, a "fascinating allegory" that uses the Jordan as "a barrier between two states of consciousness."

(Among the papers accessible to Rose Circle members on their website is "The Illustrious Order of the Red Cross" by Piers, which explores this concept in convincing detail.)

But more is required than intellectual understanding, said Piers in conclusion. "All rituals are in vain if they bring only an increase in knowledge. Masonry is nothing more than a hobby when it is not practiced in our daily lives."

I'm going to be especially protective of David Lindez's presentation, a historical look at Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry in the United States, not only because this candidly expressed paper will appear on Rose Circle's website, but also because this never before revealed information will be extrapolated in a book, soon to be published. Furthermore, not being a Masonic Rosicrucian myself, circumspection and common sense demand that I not err by confusing the names and dates of historical import that David shared. Suffice to say that as Grand Archivist of the Masonic Rosicrucians of the United States, Fratre David possesses priceless historical gems (personal journals, correspondence, rare books, etc.) that are among his sources of information.



From left: William H., David, Rob M., and Jonathan C.

If I'm comfortable at all sharing one thrust of his paper, it would be the crucial and indisputable fact that Masonic Rosicrucianism is intended to be more than the literary and research society it is officially known as. Instead, the fratres, of all grades, should be employed in the Great Work of spiritual transformation, as guided by their rituals, ceremonies that illumine the secrets of nature and the will of God.

But I digress.

I believe Piers and David would agree that the star of the conference was R.A. "Bob" Gilbert, another luminary in the field of esoteric education and instruction whose resume runs too long to be published here. Bob's presentation, "Beyond the Image: The Spiritual Reality Behind the Symbol of the Rose and Cross," instructs in a non-dogmatic investigation of what these two timeless symbols can tell us. He began with general information – a definition of "symbol," and a quick sketch of the early history of the Rosicrucian movement, among other points – and gradually worked his way toward the brilliant thesis of his talk, punctuating his message with terrific illustrations.

In fact, it is his visual presentation that will make it difficult to relate the details of his talk. You know a picture is worth a thousand words, so:



Better symbols have "restraint and gravitas" and do not depersonalize Christ. And they "have to work in practice and be practical, or they will not work."



This previously unpublished image comes from a Shaker community in Pennsylvania circa 1890. To me it seems to recall the Tree of Life, but Gilbert was careful to point out that representations created in isolated Christian communities of early America were characterized by the symetry with which they depicted crosses, circles and roses. You'll have to forgive me for not getting a quality photograph of a second image that comes from a Quaker community in Massachusetts, but that image is strikingly similar to this Shaker illustration.

"We shouldn't be surprised by the commonalities," Gilbert explained to a visibly astonished audience. These communities were not in contact, but they had commonality in their respective monastic Protestant cultures. "Both encouraged artistry and spiritual introspection."

The point is "human unity is manifest in a shared hunger for enlightenment."

The capacity crowd in the Chapter Room of the Grand Lodge of New York was evidence of that.



(Actually this photo was shot during the Q&A, by which time dozens of guests had flowed into the hallway to stretch their legs.)